The distich, however, appears to have been in use among the Polish
Unitarians shortly after the death of Faustus Socinus, as respectfully
expressive of the exact effect which they conceived that he had produced in
the religious world. Mr. Wallace, in his _Antitrinitarian Biography_, vol.
iii. p. 323., states that it is "the epitaph said to have been inscribed on
the tomb of Faustus Socinus." Mr. Wallace's authority for this assertion I
have not been able to discover. Bock (_Hist. Antitrinitariorum_, vol. iii.
p. 725.), whom Mr. Wallace generally follows, observes that the adherents
of Faustus Socinus were accustomed to use these lines "respecting his
decease," (qui de ejus obitu canere soliti sunt). This would seem to imply
that the lines were composed not long after the death of Faustus Socinus.
Probably they formed originally a part of poem written as a eulogy on him
by some minister of the Unitarian church. The case would not be without a
parallel.
Three versions of the distich are before me; that cited by Dr. Pusey, and
the two which follow:--
"Alta ruit Babylon; destruxit tecta Lutherus,
Muros Calvinus, sed fundamenta Socinus."
Fock, _Socinianismus_, vol. i. p. 180.
"Tota ruet Babylon; destruxit tecta Lutherus,
Muros Calvinus, sed fundamenta Socinus.
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